8/15/2019 Family Therapy Pioneers - Peggy Papp

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Birth date and location Peggy Papp was born in 1923 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Educational background Peggy earned her MSW at Hunter College, School ofSocial Work, New York City.

Contributions to the field Gender-focused research and dialogue have longbeen at the center of attention in the marriage andfamily therapy field. The origin of these discussionscan be traced back roughly 35 years to a time when

the pioneers of family therapy started to question thegender assumptions inherent in our society. In the1970s, Peggy helped call attention to the number ofpublications that blamed mothers for every kind ofproblem. Mothers were blamed for schizophrenia, incest,domestic violence, and sexual harassment, just to namea few. Peggy has continued to be a key participant inthis evolution of ideas about gender and power, andoften took part in the initial debates, and continues todo so today. She is an internationally renowned therapistand author of numerous articles and books on familytherapy, including The Process of Change , considered aclassic in the field; co-author of the landmark book,TheInvisible Web: Gender Patterns in Family Relationships ;and editor of Couples on the Faultline: New Directions for Therapists . She has presented extensively in theU.S., Europe, South America, China and Israel. She isrecognized for her many innovative contributions tofamily therapy, including family sculpting and the use ofthemes and belief systems. She was the recipient of the

AAMFT’s Lifetime Achievement Award and has beenhonored by the American Family Therapy Academy forher pioneering work on The Women’s Project for FamilyTherapy (with Marianne Walters, Olga Silverstein andBetty Carter).

Influences leading to interest infamily-based interventions Peggy and Olga Silverstein began a program usingparadox in 1974, working with families of symptomaticchildren (Minuchin and Fishman, 1981).

How this work is beingcarried on today Peggy is currently a seniorfaculty member of the

Ackerman Institute forthe Family, and founderand director of Ackerman’sDepression and GenderProject. In this project,a model was createdthat recognized the rolegender plays in depression.

A multi-dimensionaltreatment approachis practiced that takes into account the biological,psychological, cultural and interpersonal aspects ofdepression. The family is seen as an essential part of therecovery and is involved in the treatment process. Inaddition to her Ackerman affiliation, Peggy has a privatepractice in family therapy in New York City.

Some information courtesy of the Ackerman Institute forthe Family, New York, NY. Also fromFamily TherapyMagazine, July/August 2002.

Reference: Minuchin, S., & Fishman, H. C. (1981). Familytherapy techniques. Harvard University Press.

Peggy Bennion Papp

peggy helped call attention to

the number of publications that

blamed mothers for every kind

of problem. mothers were blamed

for schizophrenia, incest,domestic violence, and sexual

harassment, just to name a few.